


Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Sun

by PipTheMagnificent



Series: Zutara Week 2020 [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bedtime Stories, Cultural Differences, Dadko, F/M, Kidfic, Momtara, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25592476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PipTheMagnificent/pseuds/PipTheMagnificent
Summary: It's bedtime in the Fire Nation Palace, and the kids are expecting a story.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zutara Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849897
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70





	Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 4 of Zutara Week, Celestial.

The bed creaks as Izumi, Kya and little Lee jump up and down. “Blam!” shrieks Izumi. “I just firebended your face off!” 

Kya sticks out her tongue. “Nu-uh! I waterbended ice armor so you just made me wet.” 

“Well, I just set everyone in the room on fire again and your armor already melted so now you’re burning!” 

“I’m not burning!” Lee chimes in. “I’m the Avatar so I flew above it.” 

Izumi and Kya groan. “Lee, you can’t be the Avatar _again._ You always wanna be the Avatar,” Izumi says in a bossy voice. 

“Yeah.” Kya crosses her arms, backing up her big sister. “Being the Avatar is cheating.”

Lee’s face starts to tremble. “I’m not cheating!” 

The girls realize their mistake. “No, no!” Izumi chimes. “You’re not cheating! Fine, you can be the Avatar.” 

“Just don’t cry,” Kya hushes, dropping to her knees on the bed. “It’s okay. Stop crying!” 

But it’s too late. Lee’s face crumples and the tears leak out. “Shh,” Izumi hushes. “You didn’t cheat.”

“Girls!” Katara rushes into the room. “Why is Lee crying?” 

“Mama!” He cries and she goes over and sits next to him, wrapping her arms around him. 

“We didn’t do anything,” Izumi says, staring at the ground resolutely. “He just started crying.”

Katara quirks an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah,” says Izumi, and she nudges Kya with her foot. 

“Kya?” 

Kya’s face is red, and she breaks as soon as Katara turns to her. 

“We didn’t mean to! But he wanted to be the Avatar again and that’s cheating! Because the Avatar can just beat everyone else and it’s not fair,” she ends in a wail. 

Katara sighs. “Girls, Lee is littler than you. You have to play nice.”

Izumi pouts. “We were, but it’s not fun to play when someone is the Avatar.”

Kya crawls over next to Katara and curls up against her side. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” she admonishes. “Say sorry to Lee.” 

“Sorry Lee.”

“Izumi?”

Izumi crosses her arms, but mutters an apology reluctantly. 

“It’s okay,” Lee says, wiping his face, and Katara swoops down and presses a kiss on his forehead. 

“Good boy.” She smiles. “Now, do you guys want a bedtime story?”

They cheer. 

“Okay, let me think…”

_In the old days, when the ice was new and barely frozen over, there were two siblings._

“Like you and Uncle Sokka!” 

“Yup.”

_They were called Malina and Anningan, and when they were young they were close._

“You’re telling them _this_ story?” A deep voice interrupted her. 

“Daddy!” the kids yell, and Zuko moves from his position in the doorway to come sit on the end of the bed with Katara. 

“Don’t worry,” Katara laughs. “I’m thoroughly editing it. They’re a little young. Although I heard the story when I was around Kya’s age.” 

“Well, I think our kids can wait a little. A lot.” 

“I agree. Now shush. I’m talking.” 

_As they grew up, they grew apart. One day, Malina and Anningan got into a fight. It was the worst fight they had ever had, and the ice shook and cracked under their anger. Malina was so upset that she took to her feet and ran from the village, away from her brother. She brought only a bright torch to light her way. Anningan chased after her. In his pursuit, he fell, and his torch nearly went out, leaving him with only a dim light._

_They ran and ran, and as they ran, they were lifted off the ground and into the sky, where they are doomed to continue their chase for eternity._

_Malina became the sun, with her bright light, and Anningan the moon with his dim luminescence. Anningan is so devoted to chasing after his sister to apologize that he forgets to eat, and that is why the moon shrinks. When the moon disappears, he has stopped to eat, and then the moon grows along with his stomach as he picks up the race again._

_Sometimes the moon will catch the sun, and Anningan will try to apologize, but Malina in her stubborn glory does not believe him, and their time together ends as she runs again. Anningan chases her once again, constantly trying to get her to forgive him._

“That’s so sad,” Izumi comments. “Why doesn’t she forgive him?” 

“Yeah!” Kya chimes in. “I’d forgive Izumi or Lee.” 

“Well, you’re better people than Malina and Anningan. Many of the tales that Gran Gran told me didn’t have very appealing heroes.”

Zuko snorts. “This is why the Fire Nation stories are better.” Katara rolls her eyes, but the kids, seeing an opportunity to push bedtime back even more, jump on the idea. Giving in to the clamor, Zuko raises his hands in defeat. “Okay, I’ll tell you my story. It’s about the sun and the moon as well…”

_Long, long ago, when dragons walked the earth and the land was hot beneath man’s feet, Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and ruler of the heavens, sent her husband, Tsukoyomi, god of the moon and ruler of the night, down to the earth to pay a visit to Uke Mochi. Uke Mochi was the goddess of food, and she provided for humans._

_Tsukoyomi was invited to a large banquet. He was excited to attend, but his excitement turned to horror when he saw how Uke Mochi provided food. Crouched over the table like a spider, the goddess vomited and defecated all over, her leavings turning into a sumptuous feast._

“What does defecate mean?” 

“Poop.” 

The three children squeal in disgust. 

_Horrified by what he had seen, Tsukoyomi flew into a rage and killed Uke Mochi. Yet when he returned to the heavens, Amaterasu was disgusted at his murder of the goddess that she ran away from him. Tsukoyomi chased after her, and that is why the moon is always trailing the sun._

“That’s so yucky!” Izumi says. “I would have killed her too.” 

“I would have just ordered food from the Jasmine Dragon,” Kya yawns, and Zuko and Katara laugh. 

“I’m sure Great-Uncle Iroh would be happy to hear that,” Zuko says. Stooping over, he leaves a kiss on each small forehead, and Katara whispers a good night as they exit the room, extinguishing the torches on their way out. 

“What a good storyteller,” Katara teases. “You’ve certainly improved since your first time trying to tell one.” 

Zuko cringes at the memory, a fumbled mess of “oh Uncle Iroh told me this story once, there was a princess and she was cursed, so then she went out to go break it and ended up doing it after making friends with the dragon.” 

“I hope so. That first attempt was terrible.” 

Katara smiles at him as they walk down the corridor. “I thought it was cute.” 

“You have to say that, you’re my wife.” 

“Trust me, if I thought it was bad, I’d say it’s bad.” 

Zuko thinks back to the time he tried to make her sea prunes, and quickly realizes she’s right. 

“Anyways,” she continues, “I have a great idea for our own bedtime tonight.” 

“Yeah?” He leers at her and she scoffs. 

“We make our own sun and moon fable.” 

“Hmmm? How so?” 

Katara smirks. “You… chase... me.” 

“Wouldn’t that be the sun chasing the-“ But she’s already started to run off, so he gives up and just runs after her, their laughter ringing off the walls of their private quarters. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! This was very rushed, as I still have to write the next two days (I do have 7 done thought!). I adapted the Inuit tale, because the original is definitely not one for children’s ears. The version I am using in the story can be found here http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2046823_2046865_2046803,00.html  
> And the original: http://www.native-languages.org/inuitstory.htm
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated, and you can find me on Tumblr at pipthemagnificentwrites


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